1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multimedia device and a method for controlling the same, more particularly, to a multimedia device and a method for controlling the same enabling a user to continue viewing another episode of a specific broadcast program, after the user has finished viewing a recorded episode of the same broadcast program. Herein, examples of the multimedia device may include network television (TV), smart TV, hybrid broadcast broadband television (HBBTV), internet TV, web TV, internet protocol television (IPTV), and so on.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
With the evolution in the digital technology, a large size of AV data, which are configured of images (video) or sound (audio), may be stored without causing any quality degrading.
Recently, as the price of recording media, such as HDDs or DVDs, each being provided with a large storage capacity of several tens of GB or more, is becoming relatively lower than in the past, HDD based recorders or DVD based recorders are also being introduced to the market. As the capacity of such recording media is becoming larger, a larger number of programs may be recorded and stored in the recording device.
As recording media are now being capable of recording and storing a larger number of programs, due to the extended capacity of the recording media, users are now facing the burden of having to select recorded programs or scheduling recording for a wanted program. In order to lessen the burden of the users, a system that can memorize and store the user's current preferences or profile information, and that can automatically perform recording or recording scheduling (or reservation) of a particular program based upon the memorized and stored information, has recently been developed.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of viewing a recorded program by using the related art multimedia device according to an embodiment of the present invention. And, hereinafter, the example of viewing the recorded program by using the related art multimedia device will now be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1.
In this example, it is assumed that a user performs scheduled recording of Episode 1 of TV Series A by using the multimedia device (S100), and that the user views the recorded version of Episode 1 of TV Series A at 9:30 p.m. on a weekday night after coming from work (S110). However, if the regular broadcasting of TV Series A starts at 10:00 p.m. (i.e., when the starting time of the regular broadcasting of TV Series A is at 10:00 p.m.), the regular broadcasting of Episode 2 of TV Series A starts while the user is viewing the recorded version of Episode 1 of TV Series A (S120).
Therefore, the user shall decide whether to resume viewing the recorded version of Episode 1 of TV Series A, or whether to skip Episode 1 of TV Series A for the time being and to view the regular broadcasting of Episode 2 of TV Series A (S130). If the user chooses to resume viewing the recorded version of Episode 1 of TV Series A, once the viewing of Episode 1 is finished, the user can only start viewing Episode 2 of TV Series A halfway through the episode (S140), thereby missing the first half of Episode 2. Accordingly, since the user is capable of viewing only a portion of the corresponding episode of the TV series, the user is incapable of being fully absorbed in the broadcast program.
Alternatively, even if the user chooses to view the regular broadcasting of TV Series A, since the user is first required to end the viewing of Episode 1 and then move on to viewing Episode 2, the user experiences the inconvenience of having to view a wanted program by personally manipulating several keys. Furthermore, even though the user can view Episode 2 starting from the beginning of the broadcasting (S150), since the user is viewing Episode 2 without completing the viewing of the recorded version of Episode 1, the problems of causing disconnection in the storyline and disturbing the user's emotional absorption to the TV series still remain.
As described above, when the regular broadcasting of the recorded program starts, while the user is viewing the recorded version of the corresponding program, the user may be capable of viewing the regular broadcasting of the program only halfway through the show, after the user has finished viewing the recorded program, or the user may be capable of viewing the episode that is being broadcasted during the regular broadcasting time starting from the beginning, without completing the viewing of the recorded program. Thus, the user is incapable of being emotionally absorbed into the TV series, and separate manipulation of keys is required, thereby causing the user to experience inconvenience.